The most recommended autobiographies

This book is near and dear to me because of the topic it is based on. Anorectal malformation is a rare congenital defect that affects one in 5000 babies born. The book does a great job of bringing to light the real-life stories and experiences of patients and their families as they learn to navigate the healthcare system while aiming for the best outcome for their babies. The book gives a platform for raising awareness of birth defects such as anorectal malformations and tries to overcome the stigma associated with them. The book is a great compilation of stories of patients with anorectal malformations and serves as a great resource for other patients faced with a similar diagnosis.

Brian Pinkney’s scratchboard and oil pastel illustrations are full of energy. They capture Alvin Ailey’s movement and grace. Both the art and the text are thoughtful and very well-researched.

The book shows Alvin Ailey leaving Texas as a young man, discovering dance in LA, and creating the first modern dance company that celebrated the heritage of African-American people. I especially love the illustration of Alvin Ailey arriving in New York with the buildings in the background as if “his dreams soared higher than the tallest skyscrapers.”

The book has a beautiful full-circle moment that shows how Alvin Ailey incorporated gospel traditions from his church in Texas into one of his company’s first suite of dances. 

Like Opelt, I believed I was well equipped to grieve well before suffering found me. Like her, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Her book was solace because it refused to shy away from the complexity and sometimes downright strangeness of grief. Her exploration of historical rituals for processing grief in community sparked my imagination for more ways of restoring lost practices and finding new ones for engaging loss, remembering well, and honoring life with those I love.  

Nelson’s masterly biography of Charlemagne is a dense, scholarly but still gripping account of one of the most interesting and influential monarchs in European history. I struggle to think of any figure who has has a greater impact that the King of the Franks and, later, Emperor of the Romans, who drew the boundaries of the continent as we know them today. This was my most reliable go-to source on Charlemagne and his long wars with the pagan Saxons, which is the subject of my own series.

Julia Mickenberg’s American Girls in Red Russia touches on a wide array of topics: American women’s participation in pre-1917 revolutionary movements, famine relief in during the Civil War period, the creation of an American colony in Siberia, the establishment of an American-run English language newspaper in Moscow, modern dance, African-American theater and film performances, and the creation of pro-Russian World War II propaganda. But she masterfully weaves these topics together using a central theme: American women, from various cultural spheres, seeking the equality and freedom they thought redefined gender roles in the Soviet Union would give them.

Mickenberg’s book captures the real depth of interest, hope, and fascination that the Soviet Union held for many well-educated, left-leaning American women, and how these feelings were colored by the gap between Soviet ideals and realities. She provides a fascinating account of these women’s willingness to uproot their lives in search of careers,… show more.

Cavan is one of the lesser-known Great War generals and, indeed, was one of the "dugouts" recalled from retirement in 1914.

After commanding the Guards Division and XV Corps on the Western Front, he took command of British forces in Italy, again not one of the better-known campaigns. Yet, he rose after the war to be Chief of the Imperial General Staff at a particularly testing time of economic retrenchment.

Senior analyses Cavan's good generalship, including his regard for the welfare of his men, and brings out the character of a man who was both respected and trusted.

This book is a gem for lovers of Greece and of superlative English prose.

For me the book is far and away the best evocation of a wild and remote part of Greece that I got to know and treasure when tramping through its olive fields in search of ancient inscriptions. Leigh Fermor was incapable of writing a dull sentence.

His imagination allied with what he observed himself in his wanderings combine to bring out all the strangeness of Mani’s history of brigands and vendettas, of villages bristling with defensive towers and of fishermen descended—perhaps—from Byzantine emperors.   

Ted Conover, a journalist, wanted to better understand life as a corrections officer.

After Conover’s request to shadow a recruit at the New York State Corrections Officer Academy was denied, he decided to apply to become a corrections officer himself—and was hired.

Conover spent a year working as a corrections officer at Sing Sing, and his insights about the chaos, lack of training, and harsh culture at the institution—and the impact that serving as a corrections officer had on him psychologically and on relationships with his loved ones—were eye-opening. 

A new friend and avid reader pulled this book from his bookshelf, pronounced it one of his favorites, and put it in my hands. One is somewhat obligated to read it, yes?

Along with that, I had met the author and read one of his novels, so I knew he was an excellent writer. But this book was different, and I wasn’t sure I would like it. It was a collection of portraits of famous and unknown people in my state, a place known for its rich and unusual characters. Some of them I knew, some I knew of, and others were strangers until Hoffman introduced me.

Engaging and eye-opening! I felt I had met the people he portrayed. His skillful, insightful, and elegant style brought these people alive. I am grateful he wrote it and shared it.

Although not a book about travel I feel this book fits the list, as it is essentially an extended love letter to both Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassady, who at certain stages in her life, were the lovers of the author. What this book also describes is how people who decide to stay at home, while their lovers and friends embark on endless road trips, survive the ordinary hardships of day-to-day living. The book is incredibly insightful and sheds new light on the lives of the aforementioned famous Beat Generation authors. It also warns that the perils of living in the moment, fast time, no responsibilities, does not always lead to a long and happy life. As I discovered during my own extensive travels, if you stay on the road too long, you might not be able to find your way home.